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Populär Culture Review
solely “literary” in the strict meaning of the word for it includes a variety of
media, such as theater, film, or comic books. When we consider the
intentionality of the “literary” message, regardless of its medium, and if we
move away from the excesses of radical reader’s response theory, which implies
that the reader is actually creating the text,17 we are able to perceive a
fundamental difference between, for instance, an income tax form and a short
story: whether the former disregards the pleasure principle to establish a
unilateral relationship between text and reality, the latter on the contrary, only
relates to reality indirectly and establishes its authority by responding to the
pleasure principle, that is, exhibiting aesthetically satisfying features. The
authors of an income tax form may thrive to present it in the clearest, most
efficient manner, however, they are not driven by aesthetic considerations, and
the tension income tax forms are susceptible to generate is usually not of the
narrative kind: its written nature does not necessarily warrant its literary
poten F